I try to keep a close eye on Bring A Trailer. It may seem like the era of cars going for wild prices is at an end, but that’s not true — things just calmed down a bit. Wild auctions are still happening on the site, be it a flip or someone who thinks a near-100,000-mile Honda Element is worth more than $10,000. For example, take this latest listing for a 20-year-old Oldsmobile.
General Motors phased Oldsmobile out in 2004. As a tribute to the brand, the final 500 examples of the brand’s lineup at the time — the Intrigue, Silhouette, Alero, Aurora and Bravada — all received “Final 500” special editions. Apparently, thinking these things would be worth something one day, someone went and purchased one of the Final 500 Aleros and didn’t touch it for the next 20 years. This Final 500 Alero has just 84 miles on the odometer and is pretty much in showroom condition.
All of the Final 500 editions were painted in Dark Cherry Red Metallic paint and received special heritage-inspired Oldsmobile emblems throughout. The interior is covered in Light Neutral leather and has Oldsmobile heritage badging embroidered in the seatbacks. There’s a few other options like 16-inch wheels, a rear spoiler and a Sun & Sound package that gave it an upgraded stereo system and sunroof. It also has a performance suspension, which doesn’t matter much as this thing is powered by a 200-horsepower 3.4-liter V6 paired with a four-speed automatic.
All that seemed to be enough to get someone to bite, as the winning bid was $24,000, which is nuts, of course. Take away all the special Final 500 stuff and you’re left with an Alero, which was never all that special to begin with. What’s even more interesting is that this thing has had three previous owners over the last 20 years. According to the Carfax, the first two owners each had it for a decade each but neither ever drove the thing. Between owner one and two, just 42 miles were put on this Alero, which tells me they either kept storing it hoping it went up in value or wanted to flip it from time to time. Some in the comments were also hoping that the winning bid would come close to the car’s original $26,400 MSRP; it ended up $2,400 off.
To whoever got the winning bid, congrats I guess? I look forward to seeing this thing listed again in another few years as the owner tries to get back what they paid for it.
